Some avoid it because it might “cut ties.” Others welcome it because it “cuts a path to the future.” A look at the custom of giving knives, in Japan and abroad.

The belief that a knife cuts ties

A knife is a tool for cutting. From there it is a short step to “cutting ties,” and so knives have long been called a poor choice for a gift. In Japan they are often listed, along with breakable dishes, among the things to avoid as a wedding present. No one wants to cut the bond that has just joined two people.

There is another way to see it. A blade can also “cut open a path to the future.” Some people give a kitchen knife with a note that says, in effect, “May you two carve out a new life together.”

There is no fixed rule about which is right. The same knife may be taken as bad luck by one person and as good luck by another.

The coin in return

The idea that a gift of a knife cuts ties is not unique to Japan. In the United States and Europe, too, there is a saying that giving a knife will cut a friendship.

So the person who receives the knife hands the giver a coin. That way the knife was not given but bought, and a sale does not cut any ties. In the United States a penny is the usual coin. In one German tradition, adding a coin, a token of good luck, dispels the bad luck of giving knives or shoes.

No one is sure where the custom began. Some say it comes from Chinese folklore, others from old European practice.

The sword as a formal gift

Look back through Japanese history and the blade turns out to be a rather formal gift.

In the Muromachi period, when there was a celebration in the shogun’s house, court nobles and the heads of temples came to offer congratulations. On such visits it was the rule to present a sword (tachi), a horse and similar gifts. Giving swords began as a warrior custom, but by the early fifteenth century it had spread among the court nobility as well.

When a woman of a samurai family married, she is said to have brought a kaiken, a short blade carried inside the kimono for self-defence. The kaiken is also called a mamori-gatana, a “protection blade.” A blade was not only something that cut ties; it was also something that protected the one who carried it.

Used every day, remembered every day

We at Ichizo Honpo have given kitchen knives to friends, for weddings and for birthdays. A wedding is exactly the occasion when people say a knife should be avoided. Even so, the knife we gave is still in use in our friend’s kitchen today.

A kitchen knife is a little different from other gifts. Flowers fade, and sweets are gone once they are eaten. A knife is picked up for cooking every day, and with sharpening it lasts for years, even decades. Each time it is used, the person who gave it comes to mind, somewhere in the background.

That is why, when giving a knife, it is worth picturing the other person’s daily life. Do they cook every day? Do they fillet fish? Do they make quick meals for one? Choosing a knife that suits their kitchen is the real thoughtfulness in giving a blade.

When you hand it over, do not point the edge toward the other person. Give it in its box, or with the handle toward them. When you give a knife, the way you hand it over is part of the gift.

From Ichizo Honpo

To cut ties, or to cut a path to the future: what a blade means is for the giver and the receiver to decide. At Ichizo Honpo we think of a knife as a gift that stays with you for a long time. A knife that has been sharpened and used for years remembers the day it was given, too.

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